Video Fix: YSL Cruise

Watch Eniko Mihalik luxuriate at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes and strut around the palm-studded Promenade de la Croisette in this sweet, breezy video for YSL's Cruise 2012 collection. You can almost taste the salty air...

• Posted Feb 06, 2012
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The New Louis Vuitton Book Is a Lot More Than Pretty Pictures

Fashion fans and history buffs alike will go weak in the knees over Louis Vuitton/Marc Jacobs (Rizzoli, April 2012, $75)—and not just because of its massiveness. Created to accompany the exhibition of the same name at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris (March 9 - September 16, 2012), the monograph examines the lives and times and triumphs of the two very different men who lived over a century apart. It does this by amassing all the pretty pictures you could possibly want to ogle, as well as through essays by fashion historians and editors contextualizing the milieu that gave rise to the luxury powerhouse. Here's a peek...

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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Marc Jacobs Might Be a Buddhist

Marc Jacobs spoke to the interview site The Talks and said some fairly profound things, managing to make fashion seem, for a moment, a little less materialistic and jejune. Our favorites bits...

Yves Saint Laurent said in his farewell speech: “I now understand that the most important encounter in life is the encounter with oneself.” Have you reached that moment yet?
I feel I know myself pretty well at this point. I am still open-minded and still kind of curious and have a wonder about things, but I feel quite strong as a person and I’ve developed a certain confidence and a certain self-awareness. It doesn’t make life easy all the time, but it gives me a certain strength that perhaps took a long time to develop.

Is success a key to happiness?
I don’t know, I don’t know what the key to happiness is. Happy is just a feeling like every other feeling. I certainly feel happy some days and in general I am pretty happy, but I have all the other feelings as well. So I don’t know if there is a key. Maybe the Buddhists have it right where they just sort of honor all feelings and just go with the flow. And then I think you have no problems.

Can success and constant flattery be distracting?
Well, I just do my job. I’m not really distracted by it. Nice things are very nice to hear and it is flattering when one is given some kind of recognition, but none of that distracts me from what my job is, what it has always been: to make things. And honestly, no matter how flattering or even unflattering something is, it doesn’t prevent me from getting up and going to work and doing what I love to do.

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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Video Fix: Sofia Coppola for Marni/H&M

Sofia Coppola directed the video for Marni's collab with H&M, in select stores March 8. You might think, given Marni's artful aesthetic and rich fabrications, that it would channel the moodiness of Virgin Suicides, stylistically speaking. But no. Think more party scene from Somewhere, with Stephen Dorff replaced by British actress Imogen Poots...

• Posted Feb 04, 2012
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Diesel is the Target of a Malicious Spoof

It’s known for outré advertising, but Diesel’s latest campaign seems to have taken its Live Stupid motto a little too seriously. A new website called Diesel for Women appears to be the latest in the Italian label's ongoing Successful Living campaign. But the proposed secret to success this time? Abortions.

The well-produced site imagines a world called Misopolis, where sex reigns free and female factory workers are given “the same rights as successful people.” The press release brings up legitimate women's issues (“[they're] marginalized, abused, raped, impoverished and exploited by the garment industry”) before veering into tastelessness (“we are giving them recognition, dignity, the right to have a safe abortion and fun”). That sentiment is echoed in over-the-top slogans: "Abortion Pill, A Gift from God," "Immaculate Contraception," and "Say Goodbye to Coat Hangers."

Fashion’s politics have always leaned left, but this is not your average pro-choice message. In fact, the ads are not real, according to a Diesel spokesperson, who tells the Huffington Post, "We will ensure all steps are taken to hold the person(s) accountable for this fake campaign activity."

Though no one is claiming responsibility yet, Twitter users have collectively determined the campaign was created by the Amsterdam-based Women on Waves. The pro-choice group apparently believes that, in their opposition to abstinence-only education, it's okay to make light of a traumatic experience for millions.

Update:
After sending shockwaves through the blogosphere and bitter condemnation from Diesel, it turns out the Diesel for Women site is indeed a spoof started by Women on Waves. The Dutch non-profit issued a letter explaining that they, along with the activist group Yes Men, “designed the hoax to expose the violations of women’s rights that take place in the garment industry.”

But why pose as Diesel? The organization cites the 2011 report “Captured by Cotton” which claims that companies such as Diesel exploit garment workers hired by subcontractors through the “sumangali scheme,” forcing women to work for years in anticipation of a lump-sum payment. The ad’s faux-factory, with its abundant abortion-related imagery, was intended to point out that many garment factory workers (75 – 90% of whom are women, average age 19) face unsafe conditions, rampant sexual harassment, poor healthcare and no maternity leave. Many of these factories are located in countries where abortion is illegal. Women on Waves is campaigning to make medical abortion available to women all over the world. May we recommend Change.org?

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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Video Fix: Kate Bosworth for Vanessa Bruno

Kate Bosworth goes to the moon in this sweet and perfectly weightless short video for Vanessa Bruno, directed by Stephanie Di Giusto and using the French designer's spring collection... 

• Posted Feb 05, 2012
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Video Fix: Prada Spring Campaign

It's all about Prada envy in the house's 50s-inspired spring campaign video, shot by Steven Meisel... 

• Posted Feb 02, 2012
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Dirty Dancing, Now a Book

"Nobody puts Baby in a corner." Drop that quote in casual conversation and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn't get the reference. After all, Dirty Dancing pretty much owned 1987. Since then, all coming-of-age schmaltz masterpieces have stood on its buff shoulders. Sappy and formulaic though it was, the film struck a chord with movie-goers and left an indelible mark on pop culture forevermore.

Fans of the kitsch classic can now relive the story, and we're not talking about the dreaded remake that, when it was announced several months ago, was met with jeers. No, we're talking about a book. To commemorate the film's 25th (!) anniversary, Lionsgate and Rizzoli have teamed up to release Dirty Dancing: A Celebration. With more than a hundred stills, quotes, recollections from the cast, and a foreword by screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein (on whose life the movie is loosely based), it's like another steamy summer at Kellerman's resort.

Start practicing your moves now; the book arrives in March. Visit Rizzoli

• Posted Feb 02, 2012
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Video Fix: Die Antwoord for T by Alexander Wang

Die Antwoord, the unclassifiable rave-rap band from Capetown, South Africa, is at it again. This time they're trotting out their gold teeth, menacing sneers and Afrikaans slurs for the spring T by Alexander Wang campaign, including this video. Directed by Dan Jackson, they sing—or rather, sputter—the track Fatty Boom Boom from their new album...

• Posted Feb 01, 2012
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Johnny Ramone Goes Commando One Last Time

Like the breakneck songs they furiously strummed, The Ramones were a burst of energy that ignited the New York punk scene in the late 70s. But while the band never sought the limelight through antics or outfits—leather jackets and jeans were the extent of their fashion statement—they nevertheless informed the look and feel of the aggressive new rock 'n' roll making noise at CBGB. Just as quickly as their signature tempo, all three members (who were not related) passed away within years of disbanding. Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) was the last to go.

Opinionated until the very end, Johnny began compiling his autobiography well before losing his battle with cancer in 2004. Out in April, Commando (Abrams) is both the story of The Ramones, from start to finish, and Johnny's own story, on and off the stage. Taken from decades of meticulous records and notes, the memoir promises an unflinching inside view of The Ramones and the punk scene, as well as his eccentric Top Ten Lists and previously unseen personal photos. Here's hoping it's as intimate, raw, and chafing as the title suggests.

• Posted Jan 29, 2012
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